§10καὶ ὁ Βόηθος
ποῖον γάρ
εἶπεν
ὦ δαιμόνιε, τῇ φύσει πάθος ὁ χρόνος οὐκ ὀφείλει;
And Boethus said, "What kind of disaster, my dear friend," he said, "does time not owe to nature?
τί δʼ ἔστι τῶν ἀτόπων καὶ ἀπροσδοκήτων περὶ γῆν ἢ θάλατταν ἢ πόλεις ἢ ἄνδρας, ὅ τις ἂν προειπὼν οὐ τύχοι γενομένου;
And what is there among strange and unexpected events concerning land or sea, cities or men, which someone, having foretold it, would not hit upon its happening?
καίτοι τοῦτό γε σχεδὸν οὐδὲ προειπεῖν ἔστιν ἀλλʼ εἰπεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ ῥῖψαι καὶ διασπεῖραι λόγους οὐκ ἔχοντας ἀρχὴν εἰς τὸ ἄπειρον· οἷς πλανωμένοις ἀπήντησε πολλάκις ἡ τύχη καὶ συνέπεσεν αὐτομάτως.
And yet, this is almost not even to foretell, but to tell, or rather to throw and scatter words that have no beginning into the infinite; with which, as they wander, chance often met and coincided spontaneously.
διαφέρει γὰρ οἶμαι γενέσθαι τὸ ῥηθὲν ἢ ῥηθῆναι τὸ γενησόμενον.
For I think it is different for what was said to happen, or for what is going to happen to be said.
ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν τὰ μὴ ὑπάρχοντα λόγος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ἡμαρτημένον ἔχων οὐ δικαίως ἀναμένει τὴν ἐκ ταὐτομάτου πίστιν οὐδʼ ἀληθεῖ τεκμηρίῳ χρῆται τοῦ προειπεῖν ἐπιστάμενος τῷ μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν γενομένῳ, πάντα τῆς ἀπειρίας φερούσης· μᾶλλον δʼ δʼ μὲν
εἰκάζων καλῶς,
ὃν
ἄριστον μάντιν
ἀνηγόρευκεν ἡ παροιμία, ἰχνοσκοποῦντι καὶ στιβεύοντι διὰ τῶν εὐλόγων τὸ μέλλον ὅμοιός ἐστι.
For the statement that speaks of what does not exist, having error within itself, does not justly await confirmation from the spontaneous, nor does it use a true proof of knowing how to foretell by what happened after it was said, since infinity brings everything; but rather, he who guesses well, whom the proverb has declared to be 'the best prophet,' is like one who tracks and traces the future through reasonable probabilities.
Σίβυλλαι δʼ αὗται καὶ Βάκιδες ὥσπερ εἰς πόντον ἀτεκμάρτως τὸν χρόνον κατέβαλον καὶ διέσπειραν ὡς ἔτυχε παντοδαπῶν ὀνόματα καὶ ῥήματα παθῶν καὶ συμπτωμάτων· οἷς, γιγνομένων ἐνίων ἀπὸ τύχης, ὁμοίως ψεῦδός ἐστι τὸ νῦν λεγόμενον, κἂν ὕστερον ἀληθές, εἰ τύχοι, γένηται. §11τοιαῦτα τοῦ Βοήθου διελθόντος, ὁ Σαραπίων
δίκαιον
ἔφη
τὸ ἀξίωμα περὶ τῶν οὕτως, ὡς λέγει Βόηθος, ἀορίστως καὶ ἀνυποθέτως λεγομένων·
But these Sibyls and Bacises, as if into a trackless sea, have cast time and scattered at random words and names of all kinds of sufferings and coincidences; to which, though some happen by chance, what is now being said is equally false, even if later it should happen to become true, as it might." When Boethus had thus gone through these things, Sarapion said, "The principle is just," he said, "concerning things said in such an indefinite and unconditional way, as Boethus says; if victory is foretold to a general, he has won; if the destruction of a city, it has perished.
εἰ νίκη στρατηγῷ προείρηται, νενίκηκεν· εἰ πόλεως ἀναίρεσις, ἀπόλωλεν
ὅπου δʼ οὐ μόνον λέγεται τὸ γενησόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πῶς καὶ πότε καὶ μετὰ τί καὶ μετά τίνος, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰκασμὸς τῶν τάχα γενησομένων ἀλλὰ τῶν πάντως ἐσομένων προδήλωσις.
But where not only what is going to happen is told, but also how and when and after what and with whom, this is not a guessing of things that might happen, but a fore-showing of things that will certainly be.
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔστιν εἰς τὴν Ἀγησιλάου χωλότητα· "
φράζεο δή, Σπάρτη, καίπερ μεγάλαυχος ἐοῦσα,
μὴ σέθεν ἀρτίποδος βλάψῃ χωλὴ βασιλεία.
And these things are in reference to the lameness of Agesilaus: "Take heed now, Sparta, though you are very proud, lest from you, sound of foot, a lame kingship should bring harm.
δηρὸν γὰρ μόχθοι σε κατασχήσουσιν ἄελπτοι,
φθισίβροτὸν τʼ ἐπὶ κῦμα κυλινδομένου πολέμοιο
"
καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς νήσου πάλιν, ἣν ἀνῆκεν ἡ πρὸ Θήρας καὶ Θηρασίας;
For long shall unexpected troubles hold you, and the man-destroying wave of rolling war.
θάλασσα· καὶ περὶ τὸν Φιλίππου καὶ Ῥωμαίων πόλεμον· "
ἀλλʼ ὁπότε Τρώων γενεὰ καθύπερθε γένηται
Φοινίκων ἐν ἀγῶνι, τότʼ ἔσσεται ἔργα ἄπιστα· πόντος μὲν λάμψει πῦρ ἄσπετον, ἐκ δὲ κεραυνῶν
πρηστῆρες μὲν ἄνω διὰ κύματος ἀίξουσιν
ἄμμιγα σὺν πέτρᾳ, ἡ δὲ στηρίξεται αὐτοῦ
οὐ φατὸς ἀνθρώποις νῆσος καὶ χείρονες ἄνδρες
χερσὶ βιησάμενοι τὸν κρείσσονα νικήσουσι.
"And again, the verses about the island which the sea before Thera and Therasia threw up; and about the war of Philip and the Romans: "But when the race of Troy shall get the upper hand in the contest with the Phoenicians, then there shall be unbelievable deeds; the sea shall shine with unspeakable fire, and from thunderbolts fiery tempests shall rush upward through the wave, mixed with rock, and there shall be established there an island unspeakable to men, and worse men by force of hands shall conquer the better.
"
τὸ γὰρ ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ Ῥωμαίους τε Καρχηδονίων περιγενέσθαι καταπολεμήσαντας Ἀννίβαν, καὶ Φίλιππον Αἰτωλοῖς συμβαλόντα καὶ Ῥωμαίοις μάχῃ κρατηθῆναι, καὶ τέλος ἐκ βυθοῦ νῆσον ἀναδῦναι μετὰ πυρὸς πολλοῦ καὶ κλύδωνος ἐπιζέσαντος, οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τις ὡς ἀπήντησεν ἅμα πάντα καὶ συνέπεσε κατὰ τύχην καὶ αὐτομάτως, ἀλλʼ ἡ τάξις ἐμφαίνει τὴν πρόγνωσιν καὶ τὸ Ῥωμαίοις πρὸ ἐτῶν ὁμοῦ τι πεντακοσίων προειπεῖν τὸν χρόνον, ἐν ᾧ πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ ἔθνη πολεμήσοιεν ἅμα· τοῦτο δʼ ἦν τὸ πολεμῆσαι τοῖς οἰκέταις ἀποστᾶσιν.
"For that in a short time the Romans should prevail over the Carthaginians after defeating Hannibal, and that Philip, having engaged with the Aetolians and Romans, should be defeated in battle, and finally that an island should rise from the deep with much fire and a boiling surge—no one would say that all these met together at once and coincided by chance and spontaneously, but their order reveals foreknowledge; and to have foretold to the Romans, nearly five hundred years before, the time in which they would war against all nations at once—and this was the war against the revolted domestic slaves.
ἐν τούτοις γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀτέκμαρτον οὐδὲ τυφλὸν ἀμφί τε τύχην ζητεῖν ἐν ἀπειρίᾳ ὁ λόγος ἀλλὰ πολλὰ τῆς πείρας ἐνέχυρα δίδωσι καὶ δείκνυσι τὴν ὁδόν, βαδίζει τὸ πεπρωμένον.
For in these things there is nothing conjectural or blind, nor does the argument seek for chance in infinity, but it gives many pledges of experience and shows the way along which destiny walks.
οὐ γὰρ οἶμαὶ τινʼ ἐρεῖν, ὅτι μετὰ τούτων ὡς προερρήθη συνέπεσε κατὰ τύχην ἐπεὶ τί κωλύει λέγειν ἕτερον, ὡς προερρήθη οὐκ ἔγραψε τὰς *kuri/as ὑμῖν Ἐπίκουρος, ὦ Βόηθε, δόξας, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τύχης καὶ αὐτομάτως οὕτω πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν γραμμάτων συνεμπεσόντων, ἀπετελέσθη τὸ βιβλίον; ʼ
For I do not think anyone will say that it coincided by chance that these things happened as they had been foretold; since what prevents someone else from saying that Epicurus did not write his Principal Doctrines for you as they were expressed, but that by chance and spontaneously, the letters having thus fallen together, the book was completed?"